Former classmates, James “Murr” Murray, Brian “Q” Quinn, Sal Vulcano, and Joe Gatto, from Monsignor Farrell High School in Staten island New York, star in the comedic television show, Impractical Jokers. Comedians and lifelong friends intentionally embarrass each other in public with hilarious or sometimes outrageous dares in which their entire show is based around. If the “joker” refuses… they lose and as many know, the loser of every episode must endure a extreme punishment in which they cannot refuse. With the abundance of entertainment brought by this show, as a result, an average of more than 1.7 million viewers per episode, making Impractical jokers truTv’s highest rated, and most time shifted series. However, with such fame this wasn’t how the “jokers” expected their future to be. 

Early Life For The Jokers:

The impractical jokers soon met in a religion class at their all-boys Catholic high school in which they realized they all had a connection. 

Brian “Q” Quinn was Born on March 14, 1974, making him a Pisces, in Brooklyn New York though moved to Staten island before he was two years old. Fun Fact: Brain’s ancestry is of Irish and Italian descent.  He was always involved in drama and sports throughout his entire high school career. Hence leading up to the success in his part in the Impractical Jokers. He was especially a huge fan of pro soccer, in which he adored Manchester United. Brain attended Brooklyn College before he joined the New York City Fire Department in which he served for eight years. In order to pursue his dream in the film industry it would mean Q had to leave the firehouse. However since being apart of the Impractical Jokers, Quinn has donated $50,000 to the New York Fire Department and occasionally pays a visit to his old co-workers. Quinn has arachnophobia which is the fear of spiders or arachnids such as scorpions and ticks. Due to this fear the jokers based an entire punishment around this fear. The jokers would tie Q inside a box in which they laid a fairly large number of spiders on Q’s body. Back to Q’s personal life, he has three cats: Brooklyn, Boris, and chessie. In honor of his cats of course, Q has a tattoo that states, “38. Lives alone. Has 3 cats.” which is a result of another punishment from the jokers. Another fun fact: Q was arrest in Germany around 2009 for disorderly conduct while visiting Oktoberfest however was bailed out by fellow friends. Q also suffers from depression and is very open about his struggles throughout his time on the Impractical Jokers.

James Stephen “Murr” Murray was born on May 1, 1976 had always been raised in Staten Island in New York City. Fun Fact: Murray’s ancestry is of Irish and Italian descent much like Brian is. Growing up, Murray was raised Catholic however now identifies as an atheist. In Murr’s early life, he had always loved pro wrestling and baseball. He has always watched WWE with his father. Though he loved sport, James wasn’t so good at them but would attend as many sporting events as he possible could. Even though murr wasn’t the best at sport; this didn’t spot him from playing baseball in his early years. He even won the championship for his Staten island little league team. After graduating high school in 1994, he enhanced his education at Georgetown University where he received a Ba in English. As a result of obtaining he BA his father bought him a Ford Taurus as a graduation gift. Fast forward to present day, Murray currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey where he lives with his wife, melyssa Davies. In July 2019, James engaged to his current wife Melyssa in which he has met at his launch party for his book Awakened. He then married her on September 25,2020. In addition to his book, he realized a sci-fi horror book called Awakened in 2018. Fun fact: Murr had been married more than once due to a punishment for his friend Sal Vulcano. Murr married Sal sister on March 13, 2014. James was a senior vice president of development at the NorthSouth Production however in order to pursue his dream of reality tv; Murr had to quit his job. 

Salvatore Edward Anthony Vulcano was born on November 6, 1979 and is of Italian, Cuban, and Puerto Rican descendant. Also known as “Sal” he enjoyed playing basketball, football, and hockey. Sal as well as the jokers;: Gatto, Murray, and Quinn, were members of their high school’s improvisation club. This was a major backbone to Sal’s career on the television show because he saw it as a way to express himself. Though Vulcano tends to keep his personal life as private as possible we tend to understand his up bring in episode of Impractical Jokers. Things such as that he was stricken by a car at the age of four or that his parents got a divorced when he was very young. We also find out that Sal has a tattoo of Jaden smith on he left thigh as a punishment for the show. Sal attended St. John’s university in 1998 and received a degree in finance. A fun fact about Sal is that he is an ordained minister and even officiated Joe Gatto’s, a joker from the show, wedding in 2015. Sal is also extremely scared of cats and even throughout the show you can see Sal’s struggles with a fear of germs. Just like the punishment with Brain, Sal was also tied down in the same box where he would be surrounded by kittens or cats. Sal’s major fear for cats started wen his friend’s cat attacked him many times. There is another punishment where Sal had to present a project he didn’t realize the jokers were sabotaging his house with germs. Another fun fact: Sal is a New York Yankees fan. 

Joseph Anthony Gatto jr. was born on June 5, 1976 and is an Italian descent. Joe grew up in a fairly large Italian family where he gained his true passion for food. According to Joe, there was always an open door policy for anyone. In his early years, Gatto would listen to old-school hip-hop such as vanilla ice. He also enjoyed watching television shows such as The wonder years, Growing Pains, and Knight Rider, and Star Wars. Joe studied at Long island Post University where he received his degree in accounting. Joe was the first joker to officially marry as well has having children. His wife Bessy and his two children Milana born 2015 and his son Remington born 2017 were apart of the show on certain occasions. The couple also have multiple dogs which led joe to advocate for the “Adopt, Don’t ship” moment. This was to encourage people to adopt pets from shelter rather then from breeders.Joe has fourteen dogs named Cannoli, Biscotti, Spumoni, Napoleon, Cotta, Struffoli, Tortoni, Fettuccine Alfredo, Gnocchi, Tiramisù, Burrata, Gelato, Calzone, and Nutella. Some of the dog’s names can be found as familiar because a punishment for Joe was to stand on a high trolly in a superman outfit naming himself “Captain Fat Belly” and the jokers would announce. “Its Cannoli and Biscotti.” Though the couple separated in 2021 which led to Joe leave the show so he could focus more on his children. However, the couple would soon reconciled in 2023. Alongside the adopting a dog movement, Gatto also campaigns against bullying. On August 26, 2020 he published a book titled, The Dogfather: my love for Dogs, Dessert and growing up Italian. This book focuses on Joe’s dogs as well as Joe’s upbringing as an Italian american. 

Getting the Gang back together:

Though the jokers were all friends during their years in high school; they split their ways when they attended college. Until one day, Murr had bumped into Sal on a ferry where they would reminiscing on their high school years. This inspired the group to get together. The group began practicing improvisation at Gatto’s house where they started improv on tour around 1998 in which they called themselves the Tenderloins. They could be seen on YouTube, Myspace by millions of online users in which they gained a $100,000 prize in the NBC It’’s Your Show competition for the sketch “Time Thugs.” After six long years of practicing improv in Gatto’s basement the four, all at the same time, quit their jobs to take their skills to the next level. “We wanted to utilize our improv strengths…put ourselves into situations where we know we can be funny and also ourselves” one of the joker stated in an interview. Their unique way of creating a television show captures their talents, friendships, and joke telling many can see in every episode. You can tell by watching the show that this couldn’t be something that’s forced yet random and exhilarating. For years, impractical jokers became a journey in which they refer to as the “nineteen-year overnight success” though their success was always there. The impractical jokers have so much raw talent that can be seen in every episode and you can see how they improve as a person. As the show progresses all the fame should come to these amazing four who strike laughter to millions across the world and as they spread kindness an d awareness

Extras:

Celebrities that have made appearances in the series:

Rosie O’Donnell

Dan Reynolds

Wayne Sermon

Joey Fatone

Tommy Dreamer

Iain Armitage[A]

Soren Thompson

Danica McKellar

Byamba

Grant Marshall

Colin White

Howie Mandel

Joey Fatone

Alex Brightman

James Buckley

Travis Pastrana

Joey Fatone

Tommy Dreamer

Danica McKellar

Gary Busey

Bryan Johnson

Bully Ray

Velvet Sky

Casey Jost

Jesse Bravo

Matthew Lewis

Noah Syndergaard

Kayla Harrison

Australia’s Thunder from Down Under

Joey Fatone

Soren Thompson

Gary Busey

Kayla Harrison

Big Jay Oakerson

Doug McDermott

Enes Kanter

Buddy Valastro

Bryan Johnson

Harry Connick Jr.

Danica McKellar

Mike Spano

Byamba

Guy Fieri (via satellite)

Carlos Peña

Mark DeRosa

Randy Couture

Shawn Klush

Tino Martinez

David Zucker (via satellite)

Tristin Mays

Yanni

Jay and Silent Bob

Steel Panther

Jeff Daniels

Dave Jacobs[B]

Jameela Jamil

Eric André

Jillian Bell

Colin Jost

David Cross

Chris Jericho

Brooke Shields

Method Man

Adam Pally

Jon Gabrus

Rob Riggle

Bret Michaels

Paul Rudd

Post Malone

Steve Byrne

Anthony Davis

John Mayer

MJF

Kesha

Eddie Jackson

Roy Wood Jr.

Paul Scheer

Kal Penn

Rosanna Scotto

Bruce Campbell

Blake Anderson

ALF